Where has time gone?

Well, I haven´t been a diligent blogger for the past month, and it´s not that I haven´t had opportunities... it just hasn´t been a priority. So I apologize for all you faithful checkers. A lot has happened to so this will be a brief recap.

Last time I wrote we had 27 days left.. and now it´s less than 7! That´s crazy. These last few weeks have been hard because the end is so near, and even more so this week. It almost feels surreal.. like I can´t believe I´ll be home by this time next week. I am looking forward to a lot of things about being home, but I know it will be hard too. There´s a lot of questions and experiences I have from this semester that I will need to start or continue processing once I get back. And I´m anticipating some re-entry culture shock. I have been trying really hard to make the most of my last days here so that I do not regret anything or wish the time away.. but I am ready to be with my family and friends again.

So after free travel and spring break in Honduras we all met up in Managua, the capitol of Nicaragua. And let´s just say our 12 days there were HOT, and I mean HOOOOTTTT. One day it was 98 degrees.. and I´m sure the others were close to that. You couldn´t even stand up or sit down without sweating, pretty nasty. Managua is where Jim and Ann spent many years doing mission work with MCC so they were familiar with the area and had friends there. Our time spent there was getting to know the city, working on our independent projects, and touring churches and other places of interest. For 4 of those days we did a delegation with Witness for Peace where we learned more about CAFTA and labor laws and free trade. We also spent a night in the countryside with a host family again, but it was like living in luxury compared to Semesche, and I didn´t get sick! Nicaragua was fun but most of what I remember is the heat..

From Nicaragua we took a 12 hr bus ride starting at 3:30 am to San Salvador, capitol of El Salvador. We spent two days there and basically just toured an organic farm out in the countryside. We were also able to meet up with two EMU students, one of whom I went to high school with and is a good friend, who are biking from EMU to Paraguay. They left a few days before we did back in January and were able to change their schedule a little to meet up with us. It was really fun to spend some time with them and I think they appreciated being with people they knew. It was weird to think that we only had about 10 days left but they weren´t quite halfway done with their trip! I couldn´t be away from Momma that long!

We had one day back at CASAS in the city before leaving to come to Antigua, Guatemala for Holy Week. That day at CASAS was spent unpacking and repacking. Honestly, I´m not sure how I´m going to get everything home.. I think I will need to buy another bag to check.. yikes! We´ll figure something out though.

Antigua holds one of the biggest Easter celebrations on the Western Hemisphere, or so I am told. It has been quite a different Easter experience than all the ones I have had before in the states. We are staying in a very nice Luthern Center on the outside of town. The town is very old and has many ancient buildings that are cool, very brightly colored buildings and cathedrals, and cobblestone streets. It has a quaint feel to it. We arrived here Thursday and had the afternoon and evening to get settled in and relax. Good Friday started at 3am for us. We woke up and went out into the streets, to the main Cathedral to watch the first procession start. This involves Roman soldiers riding around in their garb and on horses anouncing the death sentence of Christ (at 2am) and then about 80 men start carrying this huge float type thing of Jesus carrying the cross. The men switch out with others about every block, because the thing is massive and very heavy. Their faces show the burden they are bearing, kind of like the cross Christ had to bear. This float is carried around throughout the entire day, up and down the streets. And following Christ is the float of Mary, carried by about 50 women.

After we watched the beginning of the processional we came back and slept for a few hours, only to get up and be out again by 8:30 watching more processionals and events. There are things called alfombras that cover the streets. They are carpet like things made out of colored sawdust shavings (kind of like sand art) and also out of pine needles and flowers and sometimes fruit. They are very detailed and intricate and beautiful. People spend hours using stencils or doing them free hand creating these carpets for the processional to walk across. It´s kind of sad that within minutes of the float going by the alfombras are nothing more than a pile of flowers or sawdust, and right after the processional comes the dump truck and men with shovels to get rid of it. It seems like a waste.. but it is their offering to God and they are quite beautiful.

In some ways the Semana Santa (Holy Week) rituals and activities here seem kind of superficial to me. I think part of that might be because of how much of a tourist attraction it has become. There were thousands of people walking around the square yesterday, from near and far, not being somber at all, taking tons of pictures, etc. And there are almost as many vendors as there are tourists. Immediately after the processionals go through, follows a processionals of people selling toys, ice cream, cotton candy, trinkets, etc. It doesn´t feel very reverent.. and yet I know for some people it is very reverent and important. It´s just very different from what I am used to. Another thing I´ve noticed is that Good Friday is the main event. They focus a lot on the suffering and pain of Christ here. Lots of people have already left town now that Friday is over. And apparently Easter Sunday is not much of a big deal here. Whereas back home, Easter Sunday is the main event, focusing more on the resurrection of Christ than the death. I guess our Easter has become quite commercialized too, with our painting of easter eggs, buying marshmellow peeps (speaking of which, Mom, can you bring me some of those to the airport? Thanks..), and chocolate easter bunnies.. I guess I just miss being at Sam Lewis for the Easter Sunrise Service and then eating breakfast together at Stony Brook Mennonite Church and seeing everyone in their Easter dresses. But it´s good for me to experience a different Easter.. and I am thankful for this time.

Following all the processionals and hoopla last night, our group had our own Good Friday service. This was a very meaningful time. We shared in footwashing and communion and lots of singing. It made me feel more and home and I appreciated sharing this with my cross cultural family. God was definitely present among us and you could tell that a lot of barriers that were built up over the semester were broken down. It was very moving and lasted for about 2 hrs.

Today we had free and most of the group went hiking Pacaya (which I´ve been there, seen that). I managed to get some homework done which I had been putting aside.. and I also met up with my boss´son here in Antigua. I am working for Schintz Photography, a mom and pop photography business in York, PA this summer. When I was hired before I left on this trip, over the phone, with no resume or references and never having met them, the wife told me that her son was living and working in Antigua and that I should look him up while I was here. His name is James but everyone calls him Jimmy, she told me. Well, I felt kind of awkward calling him this morning and telling him I was Lindsey from York, PA, and going to work for his parents this summer, did he want to get coffee? So needless to say, I called him James and not Jimmy or Jimbo (which his girlfriend later referred to him as).

We met at the fountain in the central park (I kind of felt like I was in a movie) and he had been sitting about two benches away from me the whole 10 minutes I waited there. Finally he called, saw me pick up my phone, and realized it was me. We went to a nice cafe on a roof looking out over the town. It was nice to have his girlfriend Lou (a Guatemalan who speaks perfect English) along so that the conversations kept moving and weren´t awkward. It was good to meet him and make that connection.

Anyways, there´s a super brief over view of the last few weeks. I will definitely have lots more stories and pictures to accompany that time when I get home. Speaking of which, since I am coming home so soon this is probably the last post. We have a few more days here in Antigua, with lots of free time which is a nice way to end the semester. Tuesday evening we leave for the BEACH one last time and I will wear sunscreen this time. We´re at the beach until Thursday morning and then travel back to Guatemala City to have a goodbye meal with our host families all together, finish packing, and then we leave by noon on Friday! I´m sure it will go fast. We get into Dulles airport by 10:50pm on Friday, the 17th.. if all goes well.

It´s been a good journey. Sometimes it felt like forever, sometimes it flew by, sometimes were challenging and sometimes were very relaxing.. but it´s all been part of the learning and growing process and it has been good. I´m looking forward to driving again, Isaac´s, Rita´s, my own bed, family and friends, having the option of wearing more than just 6 different shirts, and catching up on The Office. Hope you are all enjoying your family and friends during this Easter weekend, celebrating the sacrifice Christ made for all of us.
Blessings to all of you and SEE YOU SOON!
Lindsey